Reading Time: 3 minutes The federal government is boosting the availability of temporary foreign workers (TFWs) to ag and other understaffed sectors under a list of policy changes announced Monday. Employment and Workforce Development Minister Carla Qualtrough announced what’s called the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) Program Workforce Solutions Road Map, which the government said “marks the next step in […] Read more
Changes to TFW program to expand worker availability
Workplace LMIAs now valid for 18 months
Home field advantage
Of course exports are vital, but look how much our farms earn from domestic processors
Reading Time: 5 minutes Canada’s food and beverage industry, defined as all the activities involved in taking raw agricultural output and processing it into finished products for consumers, employs 290,000 people and provides about 70 per cent of all processed food and beverage products sold in Canada. The sector is Canada’s second-strongest manufacturing industry with economic activity of $117.8 […] Read more
On the same team
Is it too much to hope that farmers and processors will get better at working together?
Reading Time: 4 minutes Since food and beverage processors are the largest buyers of agricultural production in Canada, purchasing about 40 per cent of domestic farmers’ agricultural output, growth in domestic processing couldn’t help but be positive for farmers. At least, that’s the growing consensus in more university business faculties and in the head offices of more business associations. […] Read more
Missing the market
Farmers like the Thatchers are succeeding, but what happened to the promise that industry would make us a world leader value-adding?
Reading Time: 11 minutes Five years ago, the spotlight was shining bright on a report from the federal government’s Advisory Council on Economic Growth. Few federal reports get much attention, but this report, named after council chair Dominic Barton, generated headlines as it predicted that a new era of value-adding would not only transform the country’s ag and food […] Read more
Agriculture, agrifood wish lists pile up ahead of long-delayed budget
Freeland's budget due out Monday afternoon
Reading Time: 3 minutes Agriculture and agrifood sector stakeholders will learn Monday which of their requests make their way out of the pile and into a long-awaited federal budget. Federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s 2021 budget is scheduled to be released Monday in the House of Commons, at about 4 p.m. ET. Canadians didn’t get a 2020 budget: it […] Read more
Indian cabinet minister quits over farm legislation
Reading Time: 2 minutes New Delhi | Reuters — India’s minister for food processing resigned on Thursday over her opposition to planned laws to allow farmers to sell produce directly to bulk buyers and make contract farming easier, saying the legislation will hurt millions of the country’s farmers. “Proud to stand with farmers as their daughter and sister,” Harsimrat […] Read more
Ottawa expected to ‘officially’ declare ag an essential service
The Western Grain Elevator Association says that designation will clarify things and help to keep grain moving
Reading Time: 3 minutes Canada’s grain industry expects the federal government will soon officially declare agriculture an essential service. Wade Sobkowich, executive director of the Western Grain Elevator Association (WGEA), says that designation will have a practical application. “Hopefully it ends all confusion about grain workers at elevators, railway workers and anybody else required for moving grain, as to […] Read more
Pea processor wants more protein
Mean protein in western Canadian peas peaked at 24.7 per cent in 2007, but declined to 22.1 per cent last year
Reading Time: 3 minutes Pea researchers have a new focus on protein as plans for the world’s largest protein-based pea-processing plant move ahead in Portage la Prairie, Man. Last January, Roquette, a French specialty food and pharmaceutical supplier, announced construction of the $400-million plant, expected to employ 150 people and process up to 125,000 tonnes of peas each year. […] Read more
Cargill expands food starch line-up in ‘clean label’ push
Reading Time: < 1 minute New York | Reuters — Global commodities trader Cargill said on Tuesday it will increase its offerings of starch product options, seeking to capture rising demand for simpler ingredients and to meet changing consumer tastes. The Minneapolis-based agribusiness will now sell new “native starches” produced from plants such as corn and wheat, as an alternative […] Read more
Film director Cameron backing Saskatchewan organic pea plant
Reading Time: 2 minutes A major new pulse plant has set up shop southwest of Saskatoon with plans to help back development of pulse-based foods and mentor organic growers — and bringing with it a pair of unusually high-profile investors. Verdient Foods on Monday announced the opening of a pulse food processing plant at Vanscoy, Sask., with plans for […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
